Preventative Health Care

Preventative healthcare provides the foundation for your four-legged family member’s ongoing good health and wellbeing. Annual or semi-annual (recommended for senior dogs and cats) visits allow our veterinarians to gather a complete and accurate snapshot of your pet’s health so that any changes can be addressed in a timely manner and monitored. Early detection of illness can improve the chances of a good outcome for your pet, and can mean much fewer expenses for you in the long run.

Microchipping

Making sure your pet has permanent identification, such as a microchip, is one of the easiest ways to ensure Fido or Fluffy remain a lifelong healthy member of your family. Microchips are typically inserted while your pet is under general anesthesia during spay or neuter surgery, but can be placed at any time. Our veterinary care team members complete all of the registration paperwork for you and you receive a customized tag including the microchip number. Stray animals presented to a veterinarian or shelter or picked up by the police are routinely scanned for microchips. When a microchip is found, the chip company is contacted and owner information is shared to make sure a pet is returned to its family as quickly as possible.

Parasite Detection and Prevention

Our doctors recommend annual screening for external parasites that includes a visual examination for fleas and blood testing for heartworm infection and tick-borne diseases. Yearly fecal testing is also recommended to detect intestinal parasites including roundworms, hookworms, whipworms, coccidia, and giardia. Many companion animals living in DuPage, Cook, and Will Counties are exposed to a variety of wildlife, regularly visit dog parks, or spend a good amount of time enjoying the outdoors, so year-round parasite prevention is important. Even indoor pets or those that spend a very short amount of time outside are susceptible to parasites and year-round preventatives reduce the chance of diseases, some of which are transmittable to humans.

Vaccinations

Our veterinarians generally follow the American Animal Hospital Association’s vaccine recommendation guidelines. Vaccine recommendations and administration are carefully tailored according to your pet’s risk level, life stage, and lifestyle, using only the safest and highest quality vaccines available. In general, BRVC’s doctors administer one-year rabies and DAPP vaccines to dogs under the age of one and three-year rabies and DAPP vaccines to dogs over the age of one. One-year rabies and FVRCP vaccines are administered to cats under the age of one and one-year rabies and three-year FVRCP vaccines are administered to cats over the age of one.

Listed below is the vaccine schedule our doctors recommend to make sure your new puppy or kitten starts off on the right paw.

Vaccine

Schedule

Rabies (canine)

16 weeks; 3-year vaccine 12 months later

Rabies (feline)

16 weeks; 1-year vaccine 12 months later

DAPP (canine)

6-8 weeks, 10 weeks and 13 weeks; 3-year vaccine 12 months later

FVRCP (feline)

8-10 weeks, 11-13 weeks, 16-18 weeks; 3-year vaccine 12 months later

Leptospira (canine)

13 weeks and 15-17 weeks; 1-year vaccine 12 months later

Bordetella (canine)

If needed at 10 weeks; 1-year vaccine 12 months later

Canine Influenza

If needed at 10 weeks and 12-14 weeks; 1-year vaccine 12 months later

Borelia burdorferi (canine)

If needed at 8-10 weeks and 10-14 weeks; 1-year vaccine 12 months later

FeLV (feline)

If needed at 8-10 weeks and 11-14 weeks; 1-year vaccine 12 months later

Wellness Exams

Annual (semi-annual for senior pets) wellness exams include a complete physical examination of your pet from nose to tail. We’ll check its eyes, nose, ears, and teeth, listen to the heart and lungs, palpate the abdomen, and assess bone structure and muscle tone. Our doctors and veterinary care team members will ask questions about your pet’s appetite and activity levels and determine if there are any other medical issues that need to be addressed. Based on your four-legged family member’s lifestyle and risk factors, our doctors will recommend vaccines and parasite preventatives to ensure your pet is protected from contagious diseases and pests. Most importantly, wellness visits allow us to get to know you and your pet so we can work together to help ensure a lifetime of good health.